After a Winter of doing mostly weight lifting workouts, I started to feel like I needed to work some cardiovascular exercise into my fitness regimen.

In the past, my main sources of indoor cardiovascular exercise have been exercise bikes and rowing machines. Though I do like rowing machines, I really like the leg workout I get from cranking up the tension/friction on an indoor exercise bike. Also, I’ve typically discovered you can find used exercise bikes on Craig’s List for peanuts.

When I checked Craig’s List this time, I wasn’t finding any great deals on the type of exercise bike I prefer: the ones with a heavy metal spinning wheel and a caliper type pad that pushes against the wheel to provide resistance. (The heavy metal wheel gives a nice smooth pedaling action–due to the circular momentum it generates–that I like.)

It was under $125 (not too different from what people on Craig’s List were charging for similar used bikes) and got really good reviews..and lots of them! And if you’re a Amazon Prime member (like me), you get free shipping. (Note: the price has gone up recently, but it’s still a good deal under $140).

So I ordered one and it arrived in about 3 days.

Assembly

The exercise bike comes partially assembled; but some assembly is still required.

The instructions for assembly are pretty well done and all the tools you need are included. The smaller parts you need for each step are put into separate plastic bags and tagged with the applicable step number referenced in the instructions (this is a great idea!).

It took me approximately 45 minutes to assemble it, and I’m in no way fast at assembling anything…:p.

Operation

The exercise bike comes with an “exercise computer” (batteries included) that mounts on the handle bar and tells you things like speed, time, distance, and calories burned. I truly doubt it can give you a very good estimate of calories burned when it really doesn’t know the resistance you’re using. The only useful information to me is the Time: I typically do a 30-minute session and dial up the resistance enough to be pretty exhausted by the end of those 30 minutes.

The pedals have toe clips (to help keep your feet from slipping off the pedals) which some people will like and others won’t. They don’t bother me.

A caveat: I’m only about 5’9″ and my legs aren’t particularly long, yet I’ve got the seat at nearly the highest height (i.e., the seat height is adjustable). If you’re tall and/or have long legs, you may not be able to get the seat high enough to comfortably fit you.

Experience/Evaluation

So far, I’ve done two 30-minute sessions. The wheel spins smoothly, I’m able to get plenty of friction from the resistance caliper, and both the seat (not too small or too large) and the rubber-covered handle bars are comfortable. It seems quite solid (not ticky-tacky) and doesn’t make much noise (especially if you’ve got it on a solid surface, like a basement floor).